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Just don't know if things are right???

My dd is 4 days old and I have been BFing since the hospital. However, I have given her a bottle because I was convinced there was no milk/nothing coming out and she seemed hungry. I have a pump and am also pumping milk. The problem is that when I pump I don't even get an ounce. I know how often to feed, but she is not a good latcher. I know to pump whenever I give a bottle. What I don't know is how much milk I should be producing at this point and if I can pump for the majority of her milk? The little bit of milk seems to be coming directly out the nipple and not the ducts around the areola?

Your milk should be coming from your nipple and not the areola (though, sometimes mothers report drops coming from there, as well!). If you look closely at your nipple, you will notice the openings where the milk should come from.

You could pump most of the milk for your baby, but I would URGE you to nurse instead. If you're worried that your baby is not latching on properly, PLEASE contact your IBCLC, LLL Leader, WIC peer counselor, or baby's doctor.

Re: Just don't know if things are right???

I'm with Jolie .... the answer here is nurse, nurse, and more nursing! If you think you are having latch issues, have someone who is more experienced look at the latch to make sure there is no issue there. I also agree that pumping is not the direction you want to go at this point. The baby is going to get far more out of you than a pump ever will.

I think you just need someone to make sure things are going okay for you and to check on you.

Re: Just don't know if things are right???

I have exclusively bf my baby who is now one year. If I try to pump, I barely get an ounce. Considering my baby has always been in the 75%, I know she is getting enough. Pumping is not a good indicator of supply.

Your child is to young for the bottle. She could develop nipple confusion/preference. In which case, it will be a much larger obstacle to deal with. Plus, evertime you give your child a bottle instead of nursing, you are telling your body not to make as much milk.

Re: Just don't know if things are right???

I was in the same boat when I first started nursing 10 months ago. It's kind of a leap of faith to be sure your body is making enough milk, since you can't see what's going in. But you can keep track of what's coming out and overall weight gain. Count the wet/poopy diapers, that's the best indicator of what the baby's getting. I couldn't pump at all at first, which made me feel even worse.

I also was totally engorged for a while because DD was a very lazy nurser. I'd have to keep waking her constantly to get a good feeding in. Then start it all over again seemingly as soon as she finished. But those days didn't last too long; by about a month or so we had the rhythm down. Good luck!

Re: Just don't know if things are right???

With dd1 it took like 2 days to get my milk - with dd2 it took almost 7 days for the full milk to come in. My LLL leader down her said just keep nursing - evrytime she acts like she wants it - nurse - and it came in just fine.